Thursday, August 25, 2016

Dev update #21 - Legacy GPU support

Update on Gear VR (1 September):

We managed to fix known bugs but we still need to shuffle some code and run some tests after. We will try to finish all the release prep work before Monday so we can submit the app to Sideload VR early next week.

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This is a small update, not the one with Gear VR support. Minor bug fixes and a new software encoder for some older GPUs. Desktop app version is 1.1.2 and it's available in beta channel.

Software encoding

Many people kept asking us to introduce support for video cards other than modern GeForces and Radeons. We added Intel HD Graphics support (starting with Intel Core 4000+ processors) but it wasn't enough.

Today we bring full software encoding capability for all systems running Windows 8.1+. This will allow you to run VRidge on any system that can launch your games in VR. There will be of course limitations and game / SteamVR / Oculus hardware requirements still apply but no extra hardware will be required by VRidge.

This mode is last resort option and is automatically pre-selected only if no modern video card is detected on the system. This puts high load on your CPU (depending on video resolution but good CPUs can encode 1080-1440p in real time). It may also add some latency depending on your CPU performance. It's the worst decoder out of all the options but it's the best one where none of the other options work.

New software encoding option

Bugfixing

Sometimes SteamVR wasn't launching VRidge server properly. An extra option was added to desktop app settings. If you check it, it will run some extra checks during launch process to make sure VRidge server starts properly.

AMD "Not enough storage" or "Signature verification error" error will now ask if users wants to open troubleshooting page for this error.

Old NVIDIAs (pre-Kepler chipset) will no longer default to NVENC encoder. It will now offer new software encoder.

Changed MF's default encoding profile to 100. It shouldn't cause any problems but if it does, go to Riftcat\Config, open vridgeQuality.cfg with notepad and change UseLegacyProfile to true. Setting it to legacy profile may affect Android device compatibility.

Minor text fixes.

GearVR news

We contacted SideloadVR to make sure we have some platform to launch on. If they don't agree to host VRidge we'll have to create our own repackaging service to bundle user signatures. This shouldn't be too hard but may delay release for few days if SideloadVR crew refuses to host VRidge.There is one major bug to fix and we're good to go. Expect more news and, if everything goes well, an apk file next week.

Awesome work guys. I really hope the Gear VR version fixes the streaming stutters I get. I use stream theater ok my S7 and it's a locked 60fps. With riftcat it always feels like I am stuck at 30. It's an awesome product that hopefully has a long life with the upcoming google daydream class of phones.

Rainbow like mess is most likely caused by automatic stream fixes. You can disable this in app options but it would be great if you ran a diagnostic stream. We could use your diagnostic data to make sure it doesn't happen again.

See the article below:https://support.riftcat.com/hc/en-us/articles/211601805-How-to-gather-diagnostic-data-on-Android-

Hi Trinus VR integrated StreamVR in their latest release. Overall the experience is not as polished as Vridge but their implementation of streaming/compression/decompression is really great. They might be using software compression because de graphics are superbe but slowed down 0.5x . I have a radeon HD 7970 streaming to an S6. Worth checking.

They are using picture streaming (fast series of JPEGs) which can't artifact but uses a lot of CPU and bandwidth + is limited in terms of resolution and framerate. It's good for stable & decent quality but you can't go too far with it.

We're thinking about similar solution but it's currently low priority since with good connection artifacting is really rare.

Thank you for the info. Could it be possible to use something such as GPUJPEG to encode JPEGs using hardware acceleration and some form of hardware JPEGs decoder on android? Assuming WIFI AC provides enough bandwidth to stream all those JPEGs.

We'll investigate this topic. This may be a nice option for bandwidth heavy but stable connection type. Even if you lose couple of frames along the way it doesn't cause much problems. If we lose frames in a video stream, it corrupts series of pictures for up to 120 next frames.

I just tried the gearvr version and it is wonderful. I do not perceive any drift whatsoever. The head tracking is smooth with a very small lag. Overall the experience is miles ahead of the cardboard version. The stream is stable when I revert to uselegacyprofile = true in vridgequality.cfg. When disabled my screen is entirely gray. A new bug introduced by this version is the image being double and straining my eyes. It is like the IPD is too short on my S6.

Thank you for this great gearvr version. I feel like I wont need an oculus rift after all. Just that weird IPD issue and a way to increase the stream quality (currently limited to 1080p) on my amd radeon 7970 and this S6/gearvr combo will become my day to day gaming headset.

I played Omega Agent on SteamVR and did not get dizzy like I used to on the cardboard version.

Check out the latest blog post - http://blog.riftcat.com/2016/09/dev-update-22-gear-vr-first-release.htmlWe messed up the stereoscopic view in first version really bad but it should be fixed with the version 2 (available at SideloadVR).

It's good. But I have a little problem. GearVR version mono. Both eye see the left eye screen. In the steamVR headset mirror the image is good, but the samsung s7 see just the left eye both sides. in HD and 2k quality both. In cardboard no problem.

Check out the latest blog post - http://blog.riftcat.com/2016/09/dev-update-22-gear-vr-first-release.htmlWe messed up the sterescopic view in first version really bad but it should be fixed with the version 2 (available at SideloadVR).

Check out the latest blog post - http://blog.riftcat.com/2016/09/dev-update-22-gear-vr-first-release.htmlWe messed up the sterescopic view in first version really bad but it should be fixed with the version 2 (available at SideloadVR).